IELTS Simulation Listening

IELTS Listening, version 15114. You will hear a number of different recordings, and you will have to answer questions on what you hear. There will be time for you to read the instructions and questions, and you will have a chance to check your work. All the recordings will be played once only. The test is in four sections.

Write all your answers in the Listening Question booklet. At the end of the test, you will be given 10 minutes to transfer your answers to an answer sheet. Now turn to Section 1.

on page 2 of your question booklet. Section 1 You'll hear a man being interviewed about his views on city services. First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 6 on page 2. you will see that there is an example that has been done for you. On this occasion only, the conversation relating to this will be played first. Excuse me.

I'm sorry to bother you, but I wonder if you would mind taking part in a young person's survey of the city. It won't take more than a couple of minutes. Oh, okay, no problem.

First of all, can I take your name please? It's Alex Musali. How do you spell your surname? M-U-S-A-L-I The man's name is Alex Musali. So, Musali has been written in the space. Now we shall begin. You should answer the questions as you listen. because you will not hear the recording a second time. Listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 6. Excuse me.

I'm sorry to bother you, but I wonder if you would mind taking part in a young person's survey of the city. It won't take more than a couple of minutes. Oh, okay, no problem. First of all, can I take your name, please? It's Alex Musali. How do you spell your surname? M-U-S-A-L-I. Lovely. And where do you live? Flat 12. Yes. 103 Fowler Road. Is that F-A-U? No. F-O-W-L-E-R. Got it. And that's road? Right. And do you know your postcode? Let me see if I can remember it. Oh, yes, it's R062LR.

Lovely. That's brilliant. Now, can I just ask, if you don't mind, what do you do? Are you a student? Actually, I'm a waiter. Fine. Now, one more question in this section. Do you mind me asking your age group? 15 to 19, 20 to 25, or 26 to 30? Not a problem. I'm 27.

Right. Now, the main set of questions are about your opinions of different services. In each case, could you say what you think? Good, satisfactory or poor? Okay. And the first question is about how clean the streets are. How would you rate that? Good question. I suppose I'd have to say just all right for that one. You know, in the middle. Fine.

And what about buses, trams, etc.? Do they provide a good service? Where do you mean? Just here in the city. They're hardly ever on time, so I'd have to say I'm not at all impressed. Right. And have you had much contact with the health services? Not personally, but my mum has. She recently had to have a serious operation. Oh, and how did that go?

She had really first-class treatment, so I've only got positive things to say about the health service. Okay, thank you. Next question. What about the police? Do you think they're doing a good job? I don't have much contact with them, I'm glad to say, but if I had to give a rating, it wouldn't be bad. So, is that satisfactory? No, better than that. Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 7 to 10 on page 2.

Now listen and answer questions 7 to 10. Right. Now for some more open-ended questions. What would you say you like... best about the city. You know, about the facilities here. Well, the air is pretty pollution-free, you know, very clean when you compare it with other cities. Yes, right.

And that's maybe because there are a large number of parks, you know. It's not like where my wife comes from, where there's lots of wasteland and areas like that. It's quite different from here. I know what you mean. We're quite lucky here, aren't we? Yeah. And although my children aren't old enough yet, I have had a bit of contact with schools and they appear to be of a really high standard here. OK.

Now, have you got any suggestions for improvements in the city? Well, what you're doing is good, you know. Talking to young people? Not necessarily. The important thing is that they're local. You should do more of this. Good, right. Anything else? Can't really think of anything. Well, that's OK. Oh, there is something else I could mention. Whatever you like.

Well, the swimming pool is very old, 30 years at least. They ought to renovate it, you know, like they did with the football stadium. That's great now. Thanks. You've been most helpful. That is the end of Section 1. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

Now turn to Section 2 on page 3. Section 2. You will hear a guest speaking on a morning radio show. about what is happening at a local fitness club. First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 14 on page 3. Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 14. Welcome back to the Jeff Doyle Show. I'd like to introduce our next guest.

who is the general manager from the fitness center, Marion Albright. Good morning, Marion. Good morning. Thanks for coming on the show today. Tell us about the many changes happening at the fitness center. Yes, I'd be happy to.

We have had a lot of renovations at the fitness center over the last few months. The first thing that people will see when they come is that we have a new reception counter where you can pick up your towels and sign up for your exercise classes or tennis game. Another change that we are particularly excited about is the daycare for children. We have two new play areas, and one is outdoors. There are arts and crafts for them, as well as a half an hour of beginner tennis.

Or parents can bring their children for an hour or two and put them into one of our special programs. One is starting in September. We will offer a two-hour program for three- and four-year-olds. In the last half hour, they will have juice and listen to a story. There is a small charge for regular daycare and our special programs, and of course, parents do need to call ahead.

We suggest calling the day before to book your child in as we are limited to no more than 25 children at one time. The other thing we are really excited about is our fitness program for our adult members, people over 20.

We have hired two new personal trainers who will be introducing some new evening fitness classes in September. One of our new employees, Roger, will be introducing a kickboxing program and also a spin class, which is an exciting workout on stationary bicycles. Our other new person, Marissa, is going to offer a session the ladies will love called rhythmic cardio. It is a bit like learning a dance routine but working on heart fitness at the same time.

Of course, we will offer all our other special classes of aerobics and yoga. If you are interested in weight training, we don't have classes. But overall, we have more classes now in the evening than we did before. Before you hear the rest of the talk you have some time to look at questions 15 to 20 on page 4.

Now listen and answer questions 15 to 20. Well, that sounds very exciting, Marion. What else is happening at the fitness center? We are very excited about the tennis tournament in October which has many interesting players. It's the Dorothy Cup, named after the late wife of the man who founded this tournament.

That sponsor is Tom Enfield, a well-known tennis player who won five of the major tennis tournaments before he quit playing for good. He has invited 32 world-class players to come for a three-day event. It is a great opportunity to see some exciting tennis. We are expecting Andrew Hampton from England. He's the great favorite with the crowd to be the winner.

Don't forget the American, Martin Stevens. He won the U.S. championship three times in his own city, New York. Then, there's that great left-handed player, Brian Evans, from Australia. This is his first time back in competition, and he is not expecting to do well. Last year, he hurt his shoulder and had to take a year off, but he is glad to be back.

Stefan Schmidt from Holland is coming, and he is the husband of Emily Eden. She is a lovely tennis player whose most recent achievement was the woman's title of France. I imagine he will bring her with him. My favorite player is Konstantin Ivanovich from Russia, because after his last tournament, he donated some of his prize money to assist kids from poor families to get them involved with tennis.

Of course, this event is open to the public, and we have a special pass. It costs $250 for all three days of tennis and includes a dinner on Saturday night. Fantastic! Do you have other tickets available for the tournament if people just want to see a couple of matches? That is the end of Section 2. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

Now turn to Section 3 on page 5. Section 3 You'll hear two psychology students called Sarah and Mike discussing their research on music and psychology with a lecturer. First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 24. On page 5. Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 24. Hi, Sarah. Hi, Mike.

Now, I don't have long to discuss this today. This is your research into the relationship between psychology and music, isn't it? Yes, that's right. We found a recent study by Professor North in the UK Experts had always suspected there were similarities between fans of certain music types but this study was able to prove that musical tastes are directly related to our personality. I like this topic.

It's certainly going to generate a lot of discussion from your classmates when you present it. I'm pleased to see you bringing in a topic we haven't seen before. Just make sure there's enough detail that is readily available for your presentation. We think there is, yes. So, what did the study involve? Well, 36,000 people from all around the world completed an online survey.

One part of this was to provide information about the first album or CD that they considered important as a teenager. Yes, they also had to say who they associate that music with now. For example, a parent or a romantic partner. Professor North was trying to see if there are any links between musical taste and emotions. Interesting. But what makes this study so significant? Have there been any other studies in this area?

Well, we think this research is quite groundbreaking. It isn't the first study of its kind as experts have found links previously between things like musical taste and social class, for example. But people from all over the world have been involved in this one. So it's the scale of the study that makes it significant. And what were the main findings? For each music genre, he listed the most common characteristics that each typical fan had.

the findings suggest classical music fans are shy have high self-esteem are creative and at ease although heavy metal music fans come from a different generation It was found that they also share these characteristics, which is a remarkable discovery. Actually, I have to say that I'm a little sceptical of the findings. I'm not so sure we can trust them. Why? He can't be accused of using a small sample.

or rushing the findings, this study has taken some time to come out. Is it because you think some people won't match the descriptions? Well, I do know a few who don't fit neatly, but that's not the issue. The participants were asked to describe themselves during this study, so it's only their opinion of their personality, not an objective fact. Well, that's certainly something to explore further.

I have to go to deliver my lecture now. So if I were you, I'd look at the material you've got and decide what you're going to do with it. You have some time to look at questions 25 to 30 on page 6.

Now listen and answer questions 25 to 30. All right, so let's decide what to do with each of the sections of our presentation on Professor North's research. The first one is the background section. We want to include that, of course. Yes, but when we pulled all our notes together, we really ended up with too much. I agree. It's not really the length that's the problem, though. There are just too many facts here at the moment.

True. Let's make it more general. What about the next section? It's about the other research that has been done in this area. We've printed out pages and pages here. Yes, I was expecting to find some fascinating information here. But it's a bit dull, especially all those statistics. I agree. We have to mention it, though, so we'll just have to try and make it sound thought-provoking. Yes. Well, what about the findings of the study?

And you wanted to focus on the similarities he found between various music lovers, and I wanted to show the opposite view and see how they differed. Well, they're both important, so maybe we could include the two different points of view. Yes, that could work. Let's do it independently then before we put our information together. We'll probably have enough for that section then. Great. Now, market research.

There are so many implications for how this could be used in a marketing situation. Yes, but we just don't have all the data yet, and we don't know when it's going to be available. OK, well, let's point that out, but present it briefly anyway. Good idea. The next one was limitations of the study. Did you look into that? I did.

I think because Professor North wrote this himself, there's not much here and it may not be very objective. Yes. We need to find out how other researchers view the study to see if there's been any criticism of it. All right. And finally, future research. That seems like a good way to end our presentation. It would be, but his suggestions are too far removed from our original topic. They concentrate too much on music.

Yes, let's find a way to include more psychology so that it links better to our course. Good idea. So, when shall we... That is the end of Section 3. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

Now turn to Section 4 on page 7. Section 4. You will hear a first-year university student... presenting the findings of his investigation into the survival strategies of butterflies. First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40 on page 7. Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40. And I've chosen to do mine on the strategies butterflies use to survive when cold weather and lack of food significantly affect their life cycle.

I've focused on the two main strategies butterflies utilise to deal with these harsh conditions, hibernation and migration. Let's look first at hibernation. which is long-term sleep where an animal's metabolism slows to conserve strength. Different butterfly species have developed varying patterns of hibernation at different stages of their life cycle. For example...

The banded hair streak hibernates not in its full adult form, but as an egg. And another species, the cabbage white, sleeps through the winter in the chrysalis stage. and during this time, it's able to draw on the energy accumulated earlier on in its larval stage. Although the slowing of the metabolism in hibernation helps with many of the problems encountered in winter, it can't prevent them all.

Some butterflies have extra ploys for survival. For example, they produce a substance in their blood, usually glycerol or sorbitol, which functions as antifreeze. thereby adding protection against the low temperatures. All in all, there's one good thing about the cold weather. There are fewer predators around to cause problems. This is because these mainly operate in warm weather.

I would like to turn now to the second major winter survival strategy for butterflies, migration, that is, moving to areas with a more suitable environment. I've chosen to deal with this topic by looking in detail at a particular case of a migratory species, the monarch butterfly. Many butterfly species found in different parts of the world migrate.

For example, the red admiral, a British butterfly which winters in North Africa. But the monarch butterfly is the sole example to do this in North America. No life stage of the monarch can survive the low winter temperatures, so when it gets cold, the monarchs begin to congregate in huge groups and fly south. They travel distances of up to 2,500 miles. But only the last summer generation of monarchs migrate. Normal generations only live for a maximum of 10 days.

But the last migration generation, as they're called, survive for six months, which is what enables them to make the long journey. These enormous groups of migrating monarchs only fly during daylight hours, and at night they roost in trees, again often in vast groups.

Research is now being done into what helps them reach their particular destinations. It has been known for some time that they find their way on their journey by following rivers, and there are a number of these along their migratory route. However, new research indicates that they may also use the sun as a navigational aid. During this time, they are able to feed, mainly from a type of flower called the milkweed,

but they're not able to reproduce during this period. The monarchs head in their millions for a particular region of Mexico known as the Sierra Cinqua. The monarchs are anticipated with great interest in the region, and over recent years, their annual arrival has become very popular with tourists. However, their habitat is increasingly threatened. That is the end of Section 4. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

That is the end of the listening test. You now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the listening answer sheet. You have two minutes left. You have one minute left. Please stop writing and wait for your question booklet to be collected.